CARBONDALE, Ill. - Hannah Pinion started her first Missouri Valley Conference Championship with a bang. The freshman set a championship record in the 200-yard individual medley in the preliminaries. Southern Illinois sent five other swimmers to the A finals tonight.

The preliminaries started with the 500-yard freestyle. Two-time defending champion Kirsten Groome posted the top time (4:55.78), and Pamela Benitez posted the fourth-best time (4:56.71), giving SIU two A finalists. Jennifer Kwok will swim in the B Finals.

Eight heats of the 50-yard freestyle concluded the swimming preliminaries. Southern Illinois again placed two people in the A Final. Luisa Silveira posted the fifth fastest time with a 24.23, and Rachael Barry swam a 24.35, three hundredths of a second faster than ninth place. Holly Johnson, Marcella Otto and Carly Dvorak will compete in the B Final.

In the diving preliminaries, Anna Beeck and Brittany Weigel posted the third and fourth-highest scores. Beeck scored a 250.85, and Weigel, the 2011 co-Diver of the Year, scored a 245.50.

The finals start tonight at 6 p.m. in Dr. Edward J. Shea Natatorium in the Student Recreation Center. There will be finals in the 200 freestyle relay, 500 freestyle, 200 individual medley, 50 freestyle, one-meter diving and 400 medley relay. Tickets are available at SIUSalukis.com or at the gate, and cost is $25 for an all-session ticket or $7 for a single-session ticket for adults. Kids high school or younger are $20 for an all-session ticket or $5 for a single-session ticket.